Reporter

The former national president of the Nomads bikie gang will spend at least another nine months behind bars after admitting to torching a paddy wagon, which was parked outside his tattoo parlour in Newtown.

Scott Orrock, the owner of Skin Deep Tattoo, admitted smashing a police car window at 3am on April 21 last year and pouring highly flammable alcohol into the vehicle before setting it alight.

Ten minutes earlier Orrock had gone into Newtown police station demanding an officer "f---ing move it [the vehicle] right away or otherwise I will burn it down".

The NSW District Court heard police had parked the van near the tattoo parlour because officers had received information suggesting Orrock's business could be the target of a drive-by shooting, in the middle of a highly-publicised turf war between the Hells Angels and the Nomads.

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Judge Robyn Tupman found that Orrock believed the presence of the van sent the message that he was working with police.

In a heightened state of anxiety, Orrock took an "extreme course" to stop he or his family from becoming the target of a shooting, Judge Tupman said.

"There's an element of the offender taking the law into his own hands, something the authorities were trying to deter.

"Where people do so, and commit a criminal offence, the appropriate sentence should be one that deters."

Judge Tupman sentenced Orrock to a maximum three years' jail, with a non-parole period of 18 months, backdated to April 30.

She also ordered Orrock to pay NSW Police more than $58,000 for the van and about $2500 to a neighbouring cafe, which was damaged in the fire, and its insurer.

In sentencing submissions on Tuesday, Orrock's barrister, Deone Provera, said his client was "not perfect" but also drew attention to a "limited criminal history that was mostly for motor vehicle offences".

In 2006 Orrock was shot at Showgirls nightclub and subsequently charged for concealing the identity of his attacker.